Trans World Confirmed Among 16 Tower Bidders

Less than a week before the auction of select assets of bankrupt music chain Tower Records & Video, the company announced it had received 16 qualified bids — including as expected one from Trans World Entertainment, which earlier this year acquired bankrupt Musicland.

The auction is slated for Oct. 5 at the offices of Richards, Layton, & Finger, P.A., in Wilmington, Del.

The bids were part of a Sept. 28 filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware by Tower co-parent Three's A's Holdings.

Earlier this week, Russ Solomon — who founded the venerable music retail chain 46 years ago in his father's drugstore in the old Tower Theatre in West Sacramento, Calif. — declined to submit a bid on his bankrupt company.

Tower, with 89-stores, filed for bankruptcy for the second time Aug. 20, listing debts and assets in excess of $100 million each.